Political Theory Research Articles

Toward Next-Generation Phenomics: Precision Medicine, Spaceflight, Astronaut Omics, and Beyond.

Large investments over many decades in genomics in diverse fields such as precision medicine, plant biology, and recently, in space life science research and astronaut omics were not accompanied by a commensurate focus on high-throughput and granular characterization of phenotypes, thus resulting in a "phenomics lag" in systems science. There are also limits to what can be achieved through increases in sample sizes in genotype-phenotype association studies without commensurate advances in phenomics. These challenges beg a question. What might next-generation phenomics look like, given that the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence offer prospects and challenges for high-throughput digital phenotyping as a key component of next-generation phenomics? While attempting to answer this question, I also reflect on governance of digital technology and next-generation phenomics. I argue that it is timely to broaden the technical discourses through a lens of political theory. In this context, this analysis briefly engages with the recent book "The Earthly Community: Reflections on the Last Utopia," written by the historian and political theorist Achille Mbembe. The question posed by the book, "Will we be able to invent different modes of measuring that might open up the possibility of a different aesthetics, a different politics of inhabiting the Earth, of repairing and sharing the planet?" is directly relevant to healing of human diseases in ways that are cognizant of the interdependency of human and nonhuman animal health, and critical and historically informed governance of digital technologies that promise to benefit next-generation phenomics.

Exploring Political Socialization through the Lens of Giddens' Structuration Theory

Socialization is a fundamental process for the dissemination and comprehension of ideas, essential for maintaining and strengthening societal structures. It involves the exchange of values, beliefs, and perspectives, ensuring that these ideas are understood and valued within a community. This process also integrates individuals into social groups, fostering familiarity and acceptance among members. This study explores political socialization through the lens of Anthony Giddens’ Structuration Theory, which emphasizes the duality of structure and agency. By examining the interplay between social structures and individual actions, this research aims to provide a deeper understanding of how political norms and practices are produced and reproduced. This research employed a descriptive qualitative method, specifically the Literature Study Method, to trace theoretical details and provide an analytical focus on political socialization and Structuration Theory. The findings highlight that political socialization is a complex process influenced by various agents such as family, education systems, media, and political institutions, which shape individuals' political identities and behaviors. Moreover, Giddens’ Structuration Theory elucidates that social structures both constrain and enable political actions, emphasizing the reciprocal relationship between individuals and their social contexts. This study contributes to our understanding of how political socialization mechanisms contribute to societal stability and change by elucidating how individuals navigate and negotiate political structures through their everyday practices and interactions.

The role of regional tax autonomy, firm size, and business groups in tax avoidance: evidence from Spain

ABSTRACT This paper investigates the influence of regional tax autonomy, firm size, and business group affiliation on corporate tax burden in a large sample of Spanish firms, including non-listed firms, from 2007 to 2016. Our findings reveal that firms located in tax-autonomous regions exhibit lower effective corporate tax rates (ETR), providing new empirical support for the horizontal tax competition theory. Additionally, we identify a positive relationship between firm size and corporate tax burden, aligning with the political cost theory. Furthermore, we find that group-affiliated firms face a higher ETR than independent firms, and that group affiliation attenuates the differences in the tax burden experienced by large and small firms.

Public Bioethics Amidst a Pluralist People: A Project of Presumption, Despair, or Hope?

Abstract Michael Lamb’s recent book A Commonwealth of Hope presents an opportunity for bioethicists to engage in critical self-evaluation in order to consider anew why and how to engage difficult bioethical problems and questions with those who maintain diverse moral and metaphysical perspectives. Drawing on an account of the virtue of hope from Augustine of Hippo, Lamb develops a political theory in which hope provides common ground for political cooperation between diverse citizens of a commonwealth. The purpose of this introduction is to sketch out a framework by which to assess and evaluate whether bioethics demonstrates hope. This article provides a summary description of Lamb’s presentation of Augustine’s virtue of hope and his concept of politics. Then it considers implications of Lamb’s politics of hope for bioethics, identifying three features of hopeful bioethics, with which bioethicists can engage in self-reflection and evaluation.

Borgen y House of Cards: representaciones de la política en dos mujeres

Este trabajo se propone estudiar las representaciones de la política en dos personajes femeninos, Birgitte y Claire, en las series de Borgen y House of Cards, respectivamente. La perspectiva adoptada toma concepciones elaboradas en la teoría política: la política adversativa y la política deliberativa, y utiliza el análisis textual para identificar el tipo de representación, estudiando los personajes y las líneas narrativas de la vida pública y la privada. Birgitte y Claire encarnan concepciones de la política contrastantes, a la vez que proponen modelos de mujer política en tensión con los estereotipos.

Being Free, Feeling Free: Race, Gender, and Republican Domination

Abstract Members of racial and sexual minorities often live in the fear of arbitrary interference from others—rogue police officers or sexual harassers. Are they unfree by dint of believing they are unfree? I draw on the republican theory of freedom—according to which we are unfree if we are subjected to a risk of arbitrary interference—to offer a qualified positive answer. I clarify the role of probabilistic judgements about risk in republican political theory. I argue that under specific circumstances, diagnoses of republican freedom can be indexed to a certain belief about probability—what it is warranted for someone to believe in light of their distinctive epistemic perspective.

Graphic Histories of Solidarity, in Solidarity

Revolutionary experiments require building revolutionary relationships. This praxis of material and social creativity to reorganise power dynamics and weave connections across weaponised divides, are evident in the content, the form and the backstory woven into Janet Biehl's Their Blood Got Mixed: Revolutionary Rojava and the War on ISIS. Written and illustrated by Janet Biehl, it is a graphic memoir that can be read as both an historical narrative and a blueprint of a contemporary revolutionary experiment that combines political theory and graphic art to tell the story of how ISIS has been driven back in Northern Syria by people fighting for a society based on principles of direct democracy, political secularism, gender equality, and ecological sustainability. Whereas in the past, after the liberation of Rojava in 2012, Biehl spent time interviewing leadership, this book relays her interviews with women across the region and across the various projects of reorganising and defending social, political, cultural and economic life in 2019 after four years of warfare against ISIS and the Turkish state. Reflecting on the relationships that make revolutionary history, and that produce artistic histories of revolutionary experiments, this review article considers the history in this book and of this book, in conversation with recently published graphic non-fiction, and draws on engaged scholarship concerned with the politics of collective knowledge production in and for movements of solidarity urgently needed in the face of the imploding crisis of colonial borders.

Construction of a teaching mechanism for ideological and political theory courses in universities based on deep learning theory

Construction of a teaching mechanism for ideological and political theory courses in universities based on deep learning theory

The Intersection of Technology and Politics in Modern Manufacturing

This paper explores the intersection of technology and politics in modern manufacturing, examining how political decisions shape the adoption and development of manufacturing technologies. The study begins with a review of key technological advances, including automation, artificial intelligence (AI), 3D printing, and the Internet of Things (IoT). It then discusses relevant political theories such as the regulatory state, public policy, and political economy, providing a framework for understanding the role of politics in manufacturing. Through case studies on automation and job displacement, 3D printing and intellectual property, and IoT and cybersecurity, the paper highlights specific instances where political responses have significantly impacted technological advancements. A comparative analysis of different political approaches, an assessment of their economic outcomes, and a discussion of the findings are presented. The study concludes with policy recommendations for effectively managing the intersection of technology and politics in manufacturing and suggests directions for future research.

Can We Design Spontaneity? Hayek, Design, and the Normative Appeal of Spontaneous Orders

Spontaneous orders are an essential concept in political theory and political economy. Such orders entail the impossibility of predicting outcomes in detail and hence controlling and directing social processes. Many phenomena characterizing contemporary societies can be depicted as spontaneous orders, from the housing and financial markets to the evolution of norms and trends. Yet, it is well known that not every spontaneous order is beneficial. Therefore, what form of political framework is compatible with recognizing such orders? In this article, I address this problem through the example of the work of Friedrich Hayek, a prominent liberal theorist of spontaneous orders. His work shows the necessity to theorize a government of spontaneous orders based on maximizing reasonable expectations and individual freedom. I finally emphasize what such a theory implies for political power, which is not abolished but should handle complexity appropriately.

MALI: CONFLICT, SOCIAL ORDER AND THE CRIME-TERROR NEXUS

This article examines the relationship between conflict, social order, and the crime-ter ror nexus, with a focus on non-state armed groups in Mali, particularly Jama’at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM). Using anarchist political theory, the study challenges the view of these groups as purely chaotic, instead suggesting their primary aim is to establish social order. The crime-terror nexus is explored to understand its role in new governance structures created by these groups. The study underscores the importance of re-evaluating the frameworks used to interpret armed groups, emphasizing their role in creating social order and stability in conflict zones. The research offers insights into the complex dynamics of armed groups in Mali and encourages further investigation into their influence on regional stability. Keywords: Mali, armed groups, social order, terrorism, governance, conflict, crime-terror nexus.

Constitutional artisans: James Buchanan and Vincent Ostrom on artifactual man, the constitutional attitude, and the political economy of constitutional design

This paper examines the relationship between the work of James Buchanan and Vincent Ostrom. It adds to existing work by providing a comprehensive analysis of Buchanan’s and Ostrom’s changing views about how the ‘logical foundations of constitutional democracy’ should be conceptualised. The paper traces how in the 1960s and 1970s Ostrom took inspiration from the rational choice analysis of constitutional democracy in Buchanan and Tullock’s The Calculus of Consent, explaining how it shaped his reading of key texts in political theory and his analysis of public administration. It then discusses how Buchanan subsequently drew on Ostrom’s notion of artifactual man in developing his understanding of the ‘constitutional attitude’ necessary for individuals to engage in institutional design. It then explores how, from the mid-to-late 1990s, Ostrom became increasingly critical of Buchanan’s reliance on rational choice theory for his analysis of constitutional decision-making, identifying this as a key difference between their views.

A World of Many Walks? Zapatista World Ordering between Center and Margins

Abstract At the current moment of multiple global crises, including of the International Liberal Order, a search for new practices of world ordering seems to coexist with a deep skepticism regarding the possibilities of global solidarity and common struggles between centers and margins. Against this background, this paper focuses on the world ordering practices of the Mexican Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional, a group that occupies a position between center(s) and margin(s). While they clearly self-identify as being on the political and economic margins—geographically remote, economically weak and under constant threat of military repression—their ideas occupied center stage in the search for alternative visions of world order at least for a certain moment. The paper will explore the potential pathologies that a recourse to Zapatism may entail, namely romanticization, hollowing-out and epistemic extractivism/opportunism. It then asks if and how these pathologies can be overcome in a search for common ground for both social movements and International Political Theory when trying to think differently about world ordering from the margins. In this exploration, special emphasis will be given to the pathways toward a desirable order that the Zapatistas conceptualize and practice, namely creating, narrating and walking.

Carbon Accounting: Its Implications on Accounting Practices and Corporate Sustainability Reports

Carbon Accounting is a new accounting paradigm on ecological-based economic transactions. It is also known as carbon cost management. The issues regarding carbon cost management will have implications for other strategic issues related to management accounting. The concept and application of Carbon Accounting will also have broad implications for the professions and strategic issues of carbon management accounting. This study focuses on the implication of carbon accounting on accounting practices and corporate sustainability reports. The literature reviews and qualitative analyses were conducted to grab the philosophy, practice and implication of implementation of carbon accounting – carbon cost management. Based on the study, carbon accounting implementation implied to accounting practices and corporate sustainability report. In term of calculating carbon emission or greenhouse gasses, there were four methods as set by Inter-governmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) and European Renewable Energy. In term of Corporate Sustainability Report, there were three theories considered: Instrumental Theories, Social & Political Theories and Normative Theories. It is difficult to account for emission allowances, and revealed that there is a potential guidance role for auditors during the absence of an international accounting standard. With the emission allowance assets, there is diversity in the accounting treatment of liabilities, and a considerable level of non-disclosure. In practice, this means that the only liability recognition in the financial statements is for shortfalls in allowances.

The Role of Moral Norms in Political Theory

AbstractIn the recent debate on political normativity in political philosophy, two positions have emerged among so-called political realists. On the first ‘non-moral’ view, political normativity is understood as orthogonal to moral normativity. On the second ‘filter view’, moral norms and prescriptions may be ‘filtered through’ the realities of politics such that they are altered by politics’ constitutive features. While the former has been severely criticized, the latter has remained underdeveloped and vague. To take the debate on political normativity forward, the aim in this paper is to explore what it could reasonably mean to claim that moral norms are filtered through politics and are aligned with its constitutive features. More specifically, we explore the role of moral norms in political theory. We take our starting-point in Larmore’s work and make two claims. First, we argue against Larmore’s claim – following political realists – that because political philosophy is concerned with the regulation of basic institutions and legal-political orders, it should primarily focus on political legitimacy rather than justice and always focus on legitimacy before justice. In our view, nothing in the constitutive features of politics supports such a conclusion. Second, we argue that any reasonable political theory relies on at least one moral premise, constituted by foundational principles (or values), which are independent of a society or polity. These are more basic than political principles in the sense that they put up the normative boundary conditions for such principles.

Imperism as political nomos in Russia and beyond

ABSTRACT This article proposes the concept of ‘imperism’ as an analytical tool apt to describe political processes in Putin’s Russia and beyond. Imperism denotes an ontological orientation, or nomos (the term derives from theories of religion and politics by Berger and Schmitt), that undergirds a plurality of civic positions, informs policy, and fundamentally casts imperialness as a political entity’s normal, desirable state. Russia’s imperist nomos shall be explored in its key dimensions, including cosmology, authority, sociology, and aesthetics. However, imperism’s analytical purchase is not limited to the Russian case. In particular, this paper considers the merits of this category vis-à-vis an array of related but distinct concepts: imperialism, authoritarianism, fascism, nationalism, and irredentism. On those grounds, it will be argued that Putinist Russia’s military adventurism manifests a peculiar, imperist form of imperialism; that the Putin regime, albeit hard to categorise, appears to share an imperist nomos with historical fascisms; and that imperism’s ultimate scope exceeds that of nationalist irredentism. The paper ends with a reflection on the advantageous epistemological potentialities of imperism as a category.

Nanni Balestrini, collage, and the aesthetics of operaismo

This article analyzes a selection of collages made during the 1960s by Italian artist, writer, editor, and extraparliamentary activist Nanni Balestrini in relation to the dissident Marxist intellectual current of operaismo (workerism). Despite his centrality to both extraparliamentary activism and the cultural landscape in postwar Italy, Balestrini’s artistic practice remains largely unexplored. Comprised of clipped, often provocative, newspaper fragments and aesthetically arranged to exploit the expressive potency of typography, the works remain visibly indebted to the tradition of avant-garde collage. However, they summon these procedures to address the challenges of a radically different historical moment. Sustained visual analysis and salient texts of political theory are utilized to demonstrate how Balestrini’s collages investigate concerns that resonate with those of operaismo, and, in so doing, participate in the unfolding of new understandings of proletarian subjectivity and anticapitalist struggle. The constitutive disjunctures of collage and the medium’s potential to spark fresh connections function crucially in this endeavor to reveal a historically contingent form of revolutionary aesthetics. At the same time, the works chart the theoretical and increasingly activist trajectories of operaismo itself, revealing sympathies for the current’s most militant strands. Considered together, Balestrini’s collages and the theories of operaismo emerge as deeply interconnected, mutually illuminating, and reinforcing one another throughout a period of intense political contestation in Italy.

الشك العلمي: عندما تتحول الهواجس العربية إلى ظاهرة عالمية.

The study underscores the pivotal role of education in addressing scientific skepticism and countering conspiracy theories prevalent in the Arab world and beyond. Education stands as a cornerstone in fostering critical thinking and rationality, crucial for discerning between information and misinformation. This research sheds light on the adverse effects of totalitarian regimes that stifle critical thought to perpetuate their authority. The global academic community is urged to advocate for educational curriculum reforms aimed at instilling a culture of inquiry and analytical thinking. Emphasizing scientific education and critical thinking is crucial in countering political conspiracy theories and skepticism toward scientific knowledge. Education stands as the antidote to countering scientific ignorance and cognitive biases often exploited by failing regimes in developing countries to justify their shortcomings. The research explores several critical questions: How can educational methodologies be redesigned to nurture critical thinking and combat intellectual ignorance in Arab societies? How can the emphasis on reliable evidence and scientific facts be amplified in decision-making processes, particularly concerning issues like the COVID-19 pandemic? To what extent is skepticism towards scientific studies a global phenomenon, and what are the underlying contributory factors? What impact do conspiracy theories have on the public's perception of scientific facts, and how can education and media literacy address this impact? Reforming educational curricula is imperative, redirecting them towards scientific methodologies, critical thinking, and inquiry-based learning. Such reforms are pivotal to combating intellectual ignorance and advancing scientific reasoning within societies.

The Emerging of Patron-Client Relationship in Contemporary Peasant Social Movement Articulation

This paper is a literature review in the study of contemporary peasant social movements. Peasant social movements, especially in Indonesia, are always interesting because of the complex problems that have yet to be resolved. This paper uses a qualitative method with an Integrated Literature Review (ILR) approach. The search for article data was carried out using the Google Scholar database using the keywords: "peasant social movements", "articulation", and "patron-client relationships". Furthermore, articles were sorted based on predetermined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Articles that have been obtained are then extracted. The study results show that in articulating their interests, peasants often do so by using a combination of internal organizational networks known as resource mobilization theory and external activism better known as political opportunity theory cluster. Articulating their interests through subsequent social movement actors gives rise to patron-client relationships between them. In conclusion, we argue that the emergence of patron-client relationships has an impact on the articulation of interests through social movement actors.

The Myth of Westphalian Common Sense: Abjuration and Republicanism in Quilombos's Palmares

The essay addresses a concern that significant dimensions of the consciousness and language associated with modern revolutions have gone missing from discussions related to agency. It centers on Quilombos, who in the early seventeenth century created Palmares as a unique constitutional experiment and yet have been excluded from disciplinary common sense in political and international theories on the matters of modern consciousness, constitutionalism, and republicanism. The essay revisit questions of world-historical events that cast Africans as outside of time. The author counters disciplinary common sense by revisiting the moral statuses of modern political apologias, which are associated with the will to independence, and abjurations, taken to be formative expressions of self-determination. Both modern apologias and abjurations are taken to be the point of origination of modern consciousness associated with the birth of modern republicanism. Quilombo revolution demonstrates that political rationality, which underpins political action, is an expression of cognitive, material, and symbolic conditions due to time. The associated consciousness and actions may simultaneously take place across multiple spaces. This is to say that the expression of political subjectivity, which is a matter of consciousness and language, may in time be more widespread than parochial or national histories suggest. The Dutch and Quilombos revolutions prove this point.